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2009 Rattle Poetry Prize Winner

In The Music of Poetry, T. S. Eliot wrote that, “while poetry attempts to convey something beyond what can be conveyed in prose rhythms, it remains, all the same, one person talking to another.” The argument was for the use of common speech, but the concept contains much more than that. A powerful poem focuses its immediacy and intensity into an overwhelming presentness, the consuming sense that everything is happening now; through direct address a poet is able to speak to us all. So when Lynne Knight responds to the man who cried out in insensitivity, it’s a response to the lack of compassion everywhere, and a communion with those who’ve experienced it on both sides. If poetry can change the world, this is the kind of poetry that can, one small act at a time. For this reason, and others, we’re proud to introduce “To the Young Man Who Cried Out…” as winner of the 2009 Rattle Poetry Prize.